The primary function of the RCG is to provide a platform for Competitive Local Exchange Companies (CLECs) to compete with the Local Exchange Companies (LECs) for residential voice and data services. The LECs have a strangle hold on the “past mile” of copper over which almost all residential customers receive their communications services. Today, most CLECs resell the existing services that are offered by the LECs. CLECs make their money by purchasing these services from the LECs at a discount and marking them up to the customer. Since these services are regulated and controlled by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) the pricing for these services to the CLECs is set. The monthly CLEC discount is approximately $5 to $6 per line per month for basic rate services. This means, in practicality, that a CLEC can only charge an additional $5 or $6 to the residential customer for basic rate services otherwise they would be more expensive than the LEC, and no one would buy the services from them; telephone customers would simply stay with the LEC.
To be competitive then, CLECs try to sell additional services such as call waiting, caller ID, etc. where they have as much as a 50% margin. Some CLECs also bundle long distance services with their packages as additional incentive to get residential customers to buy local telephone service from them. Since long distance fees are as low as pennies per minute to the customer, there is little profit in long distance for the CLECs. As it is, the pricing structure is such that the LECs will stay in control of the residential market, and the CLECs are nothing more than a marketing arm of the LEC. This structure also keeps the CLECs at an equal competitive advantage, or disadvantage, with respect to each other. The only thing that one CLEC could do to gain more customers is to be a better marketier. Since the CLECs are unable to discount their services because their margins are too slim as it is, the net effect is that the consumer looses by not really getting competition in the residential markets, and prices are kept artificially high.
For the CLECs to be truly competitive in the local telecommunications markets, they must be able to do more than simply resell the LECs services. CLECs must be able to offer many more features or services than those that the LEC provides, and they must be able to do this at a lower cost, in order to attract new customers.
So, what new services can the CLECs offer? As things stand today there are none, with the exception of DSL or Cable services which require tremendous infrastructure costs on behalf of the CLEC. However, by deploying an RCG in a residence, CLECs can offer advanced new calling features and services over the existing POTS line. Their costs for the POTS line from the LEC remains the same, but they can now charge for high bandwidth data services as well as additional calling and messaging features that the LECs cannot offer. This is their competitive advantage.
Competition:
Many companies are currently trying to provide VoIP services to residential customers over high-speed or broadband backbones such as DSL and cable modems, over Internet connections via a computer. The high-speed services require expensive infrastructure enhancements to the local telephone companies' facilities and cable plants, as well as expensive modems at the customer's end. These services are also difficult to deploy and too complicated for the average user. Internet based VoIP services suffer from Internet delays caused by a lack of true Quality of Service (QOS) capabilities across the Internet. Existing VoIP services also require access to a computer and a technical knowledge to be able to make it work. Because of these problems, VoIP services are primarily targeted at the corporate market place where private IP networks that can carry VoIP services with a true guaranteed QOS exist, or can be controlled.
The only available alternatives for the residential user for high speed services are DSL and cable modems. DSL and Cable based communications reach only a small segment of the population, and growth has failed to live up to initial expectations. The recent collapse of the internet boom has led to the failure of many DSL service providers and has effectively eliminated DSL as a potential service for most POTS users for the immediate future.